My Great Aunt's Quilts

I was going to wait until tomorrow to post these pictures, but I just couldn't wait. (warning - this post is very heavy with photos!)  Here are some good old fashioned quilts.  Quilts like the ones that I grew up seeing that my Grandma had made.

My Great Aunt Columbia Jane is a quilter and has been for many, many years.  I've seen many of the beauties she has made.  Her and my Grandma used to exchange quilting patterns.  Anyhow,  Miss Columbia Jane has been a very, very busy lady this winter.  She has had the "pedal to the metal" on her treadle machine.  Here is proof (and this is only a few - she claims to have gone through "probably" 50 spools of thread this winter!):

This is my favorite so far - but I love them all!  My Aunt Julie (who is a quilter also!) cut the diamonds for this quilt -- by hand - the good old fashioned way - tracing a template and cutting with scissors!  Do you not love this!

Amazing.

Is this one not cool!

Aunt Columbia Jane gave one of these pieced blocks to myself, my Aunt Julie and my Aunt Teresa on one of our visits.  I treasure that little pieced block!  It's on display in my sewing room and makes me smile each time I look at it!

My Grandma made me a quilt using this block!  I believe it was a Mountain Mist pattern.

This one's a tad blurry - but I had to post it.  Aunt Columbia did not enjoy these triangle pieces "from what I hear"  LOL  You see - I cut out a gazillion (ok probably not that many - but it was a lot!) of pieces last  August and when we went down for our family reunion I "gifted" my Aunt Columbia with triangles, squares and diamonds - and I think there was another shape too - but I can't remember now.  Anyhow there was 3 or 4 shoe boxes stuffed full of pieces.  I new this would make Aunt Columbia so happy and it would help pass the time of day and make the "cutting chore" a bit easier on her.  Aunt Columbia has never used a rotary cutter - she traces everything using a template and then cuts the shapes out with scissors.  Well, she hasn't wasted any time piecing these quilts!  Goodness - she's 83 years old and she's sewing circles around me!

Pack to the triangles - "from what I hear" through the family grapevine - I didn't cut out enough triangles to make a quilt top and poor Aunt Columbia had to cut some more.  Well, she's had enough of triangles for awhile let's just say.

It's really funny that I received copies of these quilts today.  She's been on my mind this past week and I've been cutting up more scraps in my spare time so that I can bring more shoe boxes full of fabric shapes the next time we get back to West Virginia where she lives.  I probably have 300 or more diamonds cut and probably about the same in triangle shapes - to be made into half square triangles - not the triangles from above!  LOL  And my scrap bin is looking mighty pitiful right now because I've cut a lot of shapes for my hand piecing that I do during my travels to and from quilt shows (and stitching to work on while sitting in the booth during dead times). But my scraps are mostly reproduction or muddy type colors and as you can see above, by Great Aunt is all about color!  Anyhow - if any of you has scraps - send them my way for sure - I need to be cutting and stockpiling to keep my aunt fully "stocked" for next winter.  And here I thought I gave her a ton of fabric shapes last August- enough to keep her busy through this winter - boy was I wrong! I think I really need to hit some of the resale shops to look for treasures and maybe pay a bit more attention to the Quilt Guild rummage sales that sometimes go on during the smaller quilt shows.

I'm also on the hunt for some good old timey type calico prints - so if anyone knows of any "oldey but goodey" type fabric shops - please tell me about them!  She really seems to enjoy those small calico prints (especially yellow - did you spot that yellow in the lone star quilt???)  And she really likes solids.

Oh - and I just thought of another quilt I have never showed you that she has made:

Is this not the neatest pattern!  My Aunt's and I fell in love with this one!  After our visit we had to go back to my Aunt Julies house and sit and try to draft the pattern - we all liked it so much.  Then wouldn't you know it - we found the pattern in one of the Aunt Martha's quilt booklets!  LOL  That's ok, because we wanted the pattern shapes a bit bigger than my Aunt Columbia's quilt. 

I really want to make one of these quilts.  I guess my Aunt Columbia and my Grandma both made one of these quilts.  I sure wish we new where my Grandma's quilt ended up - that would be such a treasure to have in the family!

Gosh, these photos just made my day.  They made me a little sad, because I miss all of my family in W.Va.  but at the same time - I'm ready to go sew some more!  I'm just super motivated now!  I love it when I get in this mind set and want to just sew, sew, sew!  Some people "power shop"  I just "power sew"!  LOL   Wish me luck tonight after I put the kiddos to bed, I'll be thinking of fond memories of family times and stitching the night away!